Ubersite ain't broke.... (1231 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 0.82 on 78 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Rob Berg (View user info) at 2007-01-23 02:17:05 EST
...it's all you degenerate mother fuckers following along who are broken. (...and I loves ya.)
I actually made this a comment on Maltese's goliath of a post - but as it will likely be ignored AND I honestly think it would be a good thing to implement around this dump - I have replanted it.
Perhaps one of [you] heat whores might wanna jump on this one? Or maybe Bart will assign it to someone. Anyways:
Start a post simply called: "Uber-Writing : Fiction" (or something similar...)
Bart would create a perma-link - perhaps even up where the football thingie is now.
In that post [you] would have an organized list of all the submitted stories [you] felt qualified as readable fiction. Each day you would refresh that post with another list of what [you] consider fiction. Break it into categories. Perk that fucker up. Whatever. It would have to be active - true benevolent dictatorship kinda shit. [You] would be organizing the fiction list and all the writer nerds will use that as a spring-board to the good shit. Once [you] kick out the list other people throughout the day can contribute as they see fit - (just like it already exists in uber-land) - but now they can use this as an opportunity to link whore their own work (advertising!)... or someone can praise some polished up turd they stumbled across - either way it gets more eyeballs on the work that needs to be seen.
People like direction, so lets give them greedy fuckers what they need!
Besides, the rest of the "mindless bullshit" should be able to continue as far as I am concerned because some of us actually enjoy the whole fucking shit show that is 'Uber' - including the depraved nonsense and drama.
The problem, as I see it, is traffic flow. Good stories are getting lost and we just need to point those interested parties into the right direction! Make it easy for the stories to be found. Uber Madness was good but then it got overwhelming and tiresome. BUT it made me realize that ALL the original fiction - at least the shit worth reading at least - should be properly organized on 1 coherent page and updated regularly so lazy assholes (like me) will know how to find it.
Ta da!
User Reviews
Submitted by BadASCII (user info) at 2007-03-20 22:21:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Rob Berg is a size queen.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2007-01-24 19:36:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I love the fact that in a great many areas of life I can make my own decisions. I can pick and choose which posts I want to see without help.
Many ideas presented here are valid, some not as much. Whatever options are decided upon, I would prefer they not be irreversible. If I choose an option and decide it was a bad choice, I want to be able to set it back as it was...
Submitted by Electro (user info) at 2007-01-24 19:00:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2007-01-24 10:47:08 (#)
Ranking: 2
Everyone look out for the latest Electro post, coming soon to a front page near you!
I'm giddy with anticipation!
-------------------------
Good luck with that. I don't plan to make a post until floor(random(500))=0.
When its true, then you might be lucky enough to spot one. But until then...
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:00:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2007-01-24 07:23:48 (#)
Ranking: 0
Wouldn't you have the same problem of people submitting BS to the "fiction link"? if you can get a bunch of ass clowns +2ing a stupid rabbit, I am sure they will say it is fiction.
If you include some type of moderator action how is that much different than the B@W with catagories?
---
In essence it really wouldn't be much different.
In fact people are trained to go to B@W because they KNOW there will be some kick ass amusing stuff on there. I think people would conversely follow a fiction link to help separate the good writing from the crap.
~
LOVE that possible category set up, kk.
Maybe some sort of extra category ranking might be a neat idea... so if someone posted a stunning political rant in 'Fiction, poems' it obviously wouldn't fit in (unless it rhymed, of course.)
Maybe if 10 people voted that is was moved into the politics category it would be re-categorized? Perhaps even a 're-categorize' drop down with the new list already populated. (or maybe just anything deemed mis-categorized gets dumped into 'Uber Related' by default.)
10 votes and it is yanked and placed in the appropriate category - as chosen by the people.
That might be a good way to keep the lists as accurate as possible while still leveraging the community to make those decisions.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-01-24 13:31:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Prophet,
Whatever negative ratings were intended to do, consistently negative ratings became almost like consistently positive ratings; people popped on just to see what they were all about. You got people who eventually became very GOOD at writing obnoxious posts, and alters like Fat Tony were born. Asking people to change this mindset is like asking us Americans to drive on the left side of the street. Or eat healthy. That's why I was backing an ignore type of feature.
Scott,
Don't know who you're refering to. I don't think anyone has a problem with their ratings. What I said was that I don't think a lot of people want to waste time writing a quality post when the heat's just going to get stolen by "FRANK THE BEAR IS GHEY" or the latest idiot bandwagon, not to mention "wtf I'm not reading anything longer than a bad msdraw image."
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2007-01-24 12:41:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bob_Dole (user info) at 2007-01-24 03:09:36 (#)
Ranking: 2
categories? oh, the icons i don't pay attention to? hmm. I knew they were there for a reason.
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2007-01-24 10:47:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Everyone look out for the latest Electro post, coming soon to a front page near you!
I'm giddy with anticipation!
Submitted by Electro (user info) at 2007-01-24 10:28:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Good choice of picture. That was a good movie indeed.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-01-24 09:10:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 16:28:43 (#)
Ranking: 0
Anyone who wants to see how NOT to write code, look at:
http://www.ubersite.com/source/
in particular:
http://www.ubersite.com/source/message_get.cgi.txt
http://www.ubersite.com/source/Ubersite.pm.txt
===================================================================
OI OI OI OI OI OI OI
My head hurts from looking at that source code, o Master. :)
Thank Jehovah you rewrote it all in Java...although, I will admit, I found your UM algorithms in the old source code quite fascinating.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-01-24 08:54:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-01-24 03:24:33 (#)
Ranking: 2
New Possible Category Set-Up
_______________________________
Business & Financial
Computer & Internet
Contests & Specialty
Fiction *
- - action & adventure
- - drama & mystery
- - horror & bizarre
- - life & romance
- - scifi & fantasy
Graphics *
- - cartoon
- - collage
- - fine arts
- - MS paint
Humor *
- - written
- - images
- - NSFW
Movies & Television
News & Events
Opinions & Editorials
Politics *
- - local
- - country
- - world
Quotes & Poetry
Science & Enviroment
Sound & Music
Sports *
- - professional
- - college
- - international
Ubersite & Related
---------------------------------
I like that setup. Even if the current categories haven't really steered the content, I think revamping the categories would encourage people to post about new stuff for a new category and add some fresh subject matter and debate to the site.
For example, Beeb or whoever will post for what feels like every NFL game, but I'll never post about a Shield match or anything, even though there are plenty of cricket fans on the site from several Australian states, purely because it never gets done and there's no impetus. If there was a category for non-US sport, or even maybe a category for each major sport itself, I'd give it a go.
Actually, forget sport, politics is a better example, any post about Australian politics, even big national issues around election times, is pretty rare and is usually explanatory in nature, because there's no established debate or context for it on Ubersite.
I'm not trying to push the "non-US" angle but those are just two examples of fresh content that might arise from changing the categories. More people might try their hand at a particular type of fiction if it's given its own category, etc.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-01-24 08:40:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Haha yeah, the categories need a redo to fit what actually gets posted.
When was the last time you saw a Politics - Libertarians post actually to do with libertarians?
I wrote down some ideas for the site once, see if I can find em, they were okay
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2007-01-24 07:23:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Wouldn't you have the same problem of people submitting BS to the "fiction link"? if you can get a bunch of ass clowns +2ing a stupid rabbit, I am sure they will say it is fiction.
If you include some type of moderator action how is that much different than the B@W with catagories?
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-01-24 03:24:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
New Possible Category Set-Up
_______________________________
Business & Financial
Computer & Internet
Contests & Specialty
Fiction *
- - action & adventure
- - drama & mystery
- - horror & bizarre
- - life & romance
- - scifi & fantasy
Graphics *
- - cartoon
- - collage
- - fine arts
- - MS paint
Humor *
- - written
- - images
- - NSFW
Movies & Television
News & Events
Opinions & Editorials
Politics *
- - local
- - country
- - world
Quotes & Poetry
Science & Enviroment
Sound & Music
Sports *
- - professional
- - college
- - international
Ubersite & Related
Submitted by Bob_Dole (user info) at 2007-01-24 03:09:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
categories? oh, the icons i don't pay attention to? hmm. I knew they were there for a reason.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-01-24 03:03:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The categories need COMPLETELY redone, or organized differently.
Why is there 18,000 political sub-groups?
There needs to be more Fiction sub-groups, as well as Graphics.
Perhaps even a *NSFW* category.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2007-01-24 02:37:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
netprophet is so wordy.
reading your replies feels like watching French TV.
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2007-01-23 19:42:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 19:16:17 (#)
Ranking: 0
Scott... Scott.
You've been here a looooooong time.
The "whether or not a ranking is justified or not is irrelevant" speech makes up 30% of the cumulative posts and comments on Ubersite. If you include the rebuttals to that speech, we're probably closer to like 62% of all the content on this site.
Seriously, Bart- sometimes I think you've started some kind of bastard religion here. The dogma... it's so oppressive..... so, so oppressive. I feel... oppressed. Dogmatically."
-------------------------------------------
Hehehehehe,
Alright, point taken. At least you can present your rebuttal in an intelligent manner.
But it only seems dogmatic because it is an unescapable truth. That said, some of your suggestions would probably make the site more accessible and effective but they wouldn't take care of the wanker factor so you can perhaps appreciate my scepticism.
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 19:16:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Scott... Scott.
You've been here a looooooong time.
The "whether or not a ranking is justified or not is irrelevant" speech makes up 30% of the cumulative posts and comments on Ubersite. If you include the rebuttals to that speech, we're probably closer to like 62% of all the content on this site.
Seriously, Bart- sometimes I think you've started some kind of bastard religion here. The dogma... it's so oppressive..... so, so oppressive. I feel... oppressed. Dogmatically.
I don't know. I have a lot on my plate right now- if you want my help with updating your site, get back to me in the next week or so. Otherwise I might just have to start another Pulsehead. Except instead of starting off with an exact copy of Ubersite and working from there, I'm going to actually start something new and fairly different.
And our first commandment shall be:
THOU SHALT NOT TREAT THY FORUM AND THE WORDS EXPRESSED THEREIN AS SOVEREIGN REVELATION OF THE DIVINE
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2007-01-23 18:32:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I've been a reading a lot of this jazz over the last week or so and I keep getting the impression that some people believe that their posts have unjustly been the subject of -2 rankings.
Whether or not a ranking is justified or not is irrelevant. Whether you lovingly spent three hours writing your latest rant or taken three minutes to jot down a few lines just to get a reaction, the result is always going to be the same.
Once you click on the 'Submit' icon you are are granting other people the right to say what they think of you and what you have posted. You cannot decide how they are going to react. Moreover, you don't have the right to decide what people think of you.
A writer is supposed to know his audience. If you write something inflamatory and then get pissed off because somebody disagrees with you and get drawn into a mindless flame war of -2s then you are a moron and are not exercising the brains you were granted with.
But I am digressing.
Some of the tweaks that have been suggested would be of great benefit to somebody like me who spends great periods of time away from Ubersite and then has to "splurge" and search for decent stories to read. But for the most part we already have a "Hall of Fame"/"Best of"/"More Like This" feature - it's called Bored At Work.
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 18:13:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Oh, and as far as it being Bart's baby, I totally respect that. But as I've said before, I'm giving him all these ideas with no lack of confidence at their potential misappropriation because I know that if he doesn't take advantage of my generous offer soon, I intend to do just what everyone's suggested and start my own site.
Not to steal business from here, of course. But just because I'd like to have more control over the growth of the forum I frequent the most.
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 18:10:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
That's just the point, icarus- if they're an author you love to hate, this system forces you to be honest with yourself and everyone else, and actually review in a manner that reflects that you like to read the author's nonsense or diatribes or whatever.
Rate the post based on whether you'd like to see more like it... comment on the post as you like in the field labeled "Enter a comment here (optional)". You can be as scathing as you want there, while allowing the ranking system to remain undiluted.
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 18:07:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No, not exclusive. You misunderstand. What the solution I've suggested will do is provide you with exactly the same Ubersite experience you are currently having, save that in addition to everything you see now, you'll also have a selection of posts available at the top of the page, picked based on what your rating preferences have been in the past.
It only changes the experience in a positive way, specifically as the user requests. And because people will inevitably bitch (because some people will bitch at any type of change), it's a trivial matter to allow users to disable the preference bar for their Uber experience. In the process, posts will be better categorized, and the Ubersite database will have more relevant information with which to add later enhancements as time goes on.
What will also probably happen is that people will be a little more selective about how they rate posts. Some people- I'm just going to use CaulainCourt here because he's an easy target- love to read tons of posts AND -2 the posts that he came to read. Now, for the sake of fairness, it would probably be best to start everyone off with a clean slate, so that the mountains of spiteful -2 reviews left in the past don't completely steamroll over anyone's ability to use the site after the change takes effect; however, if people use the user preference feature and choose to -2 EVERY author, it seems logical that no posts should ever show up on the front page for that user, save for those made by completely new authors, because the user has specifically shown that they hate everything on Ubersite.
For that matter, if these features are eventually adopted globally (as in that last example), and not just in a tertiary UberBar, it makes sense to only allow a user's ratings to have an effect on another user's ratings if the user placing the review has their "preference feature" turned on. In other words, if you want a completely unbiased, unslanted slate of posts on Uber like you currently see on the front page, you can't expect your reviews to count, because you're expressing that you don't even trust your own opinion when it comes to what you like to read.
Of course, a handful of bad reviews wouldn't remove that author from your standard reading fare- but you can expect an author that you have given an average of -1 over 20 reviews to show up less often than an author you gave an average of -1.7 over 4 reviews, who would show up less often than an author you gave a +2 on 4 reviews, who would probably show up less often than an author that you gave an average of +1.5 over 40 reviews. And a dash of random seed is always thrown into the mix, so that unless you specifically state that you want to ignore an author (either permanently or for a period of time), there's still always a nonzero chance that it shows up. It all works on a sliding scale.
This type of pseudo-beyesian probability classification is currently used with great amounts of success in search engine algorithms, e-mail spam filters, music choice services (such as AOL MusicNow [who Bart Bart works for], or Yahoo! Launch, or Pandora), and many other preference-oriented applications.
It would do wonders for Ubersite... but you'd just have to take my word at face value on that. I have a lot of experience in this area.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-01-23 18:07:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Prophet --
Hmmm... I like the fuzzy goodness of visibility sliding back as a factor of time, but don't think it should be based (solely) on rating. What about alters you love to hate? Fat Tony got solid -2's on some posts, but used to be regarded as one of the most popular and entertaining authors on this site. You make negative ratings a criteria for bumping someone off the front page, and one of the more amusing sides of ubersite is lost.
I was thinking of something like the gong show; that if an author is such an ass you don't even want to see his/her posts again, you press the ignore button and their posts are screened from your front page for a week. As you suggested, this could have a limited effect on the author's visibility. For every two ignores, perhpas they would be moved down one ranking on the front page, until they eventually dissapear. That way you don't have love-to-hate alters bumped off the front page.
That said, this is Bart's baby.
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2007-01-23 17:51:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
What I know about computer programming could be written on the back of a postage stamp so I can offer little in the way of suggestions on how this site can run smoother.
However, I am not wild about the idea of making Ubersite exclusive -- which is where some of the arguments here are leading to. I seem to remember reading someplace that this site was created for the simple pleasure of allowing ordinary folk to write and interact in an accessible enivronment.
But then again where do I find the temerity to decide this site's direction or future. Ubersite itself is not subject to public ownership -- it belongs to one person and him alone. You would not go into Bart's house and move the furniture around, deciding what goes where so why the hell should you be allowed to do it here?
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 17:46:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Bart- you got it, except it's only half random and half preference.
Phauna- good idea with the tags and maps.
Icarus- not fuzzy enough. If the author's overall rating is -1.5 after 20 posts, though, the author would receive greatly lowered visibility based on an algorithmic sliding scale, with new post visibility slowly returning to normalcy as a factor of time, and newer posts having greater scoring weight than older ones.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-01-23 17:34:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Rob, the word *ain't* is a horrid abomination. Please discontinue its use immediately.
Thank you.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-01-23 17:25:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Bart,
Perhaps you already mentioned it somewhere, perhaps it goes against the theory of the site, but what about an 'ignore' feature? Press it, and you won't see the author's posts for, say, a week. If 10 or more people press it, it's enough to bump the author from the front page for a week. I could see that result in a lot of retaliatory clique drama, but it also might reduce the number of heat whore alters.
Submitted by phauna (user info) at 2007-01-23 17:08:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
How about removing the categories and replacing with tags. More than one tag can be applied. They can be for type (eg camwhore, fiction, rant, bandwagon, photoshop), genre (eg sci fi, horror, real life), what it's about (eg political, food, travel, love, movies) etc. Tags could be user generated, or decided by bart.
The main thing is that users have to tag their work appropriately or it won't get seen. The problem with the categories at the moment is that there are too few of them, some of them are bizarre, like Afghanistan, and only one can be chosen and you can even choose not to categorise. You should be forced to pick one. Then there would be more cross referencing, and also more meaningful searches and browsing could be done. If you just wanted to read fiction, then you click the fiction tag and there is the 'fiction' most recently reviewed, the 'fiction' most heated, the 'fiction' MVA etc.
People could retrospectively tag their own work so that older posts are indexed properly. This could just run a short time or something.
My other idea is to use that google maps thing to show where you are and to find other users around you if you wish. An example of this implementation can be seen at sites like www.anonidate.com, or www.lost.eu . People wouldn't have to put their location, of course.
Random button is also a great idea, i think steak thought that up. With tags you could have random buttons working within the tag group, random fiction, or random camwhore etc.
What about post of the month or something, like a small election, people can nominate and vote in the last week of every month for their favourite post. This also could have categories, but would be more difficult. Maybe best fiction and best non fiction would be two good categories. Like ubermadness, but for any type of post.
What about universal favourite? It's something like a single post which each user deems is the best on the site, for whatever reason and could be changed at any time. This again would get a tag and people could then see lots of good posts with a minimum of fuss while still being exposed to the dirt. Also, you couldn't pick one of your own posts. You would enter your universal favourite on your profile page, and could change it if you saw a better one. You could call it uber favourite if you want, even though this is my idea, hehe.
On to wacky ideas.------------------------------------------------------------------
What about a serialisation post where people have to write different parts of the post, one after the other. After every section written the post could either be stopped and closed off to further additions or you could type a user name and they would get a little notification to continue writing. You could limit the number of users to each post or leave it free. It could be updated after each user adds, or just posted when the final user has decided it's finished.
Similar to above, how about a wiki section where people could post things which anyone could alter in any way. The original user could be given the power to transfer it back to the non wiki part when they thought it 'done'. So people could try to write the perfect ghost story, and eveyone would collaborate. The user could be given power to allow changes or just make it a free for all. These two ideas would increase user cooperation, which you may notice is unavoidable anyway.
Okay I will stop for now. But my brain will continue to run.
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 16:28:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
You totally lost me with the A_B_C_D thing. Are you saying that this bar would appear on every page of the site and that the links would go to random posts in the respective categories?
Example:
Sports | Politics | Fiction | Photoshop
Post1 | Post2 | Post3 | Post4
where clicking on "Sports" would take you to the Sports category page and clicking on "Post1" would take you to a random post in the Sports category?
Anyone who wants to see how NOT to write code, look at:
http://www.ubersite.com/source/
in particular:
http://www.ubersite.com/source/message_get.cgi.txt
http://www.ubersite.com/source/Ubersite.pm.txt
That is perl code full of embedded HTML and SQL with very few comments, most of which make no sense. These files were created over seven years ago and have been running the site every since up until last week. Trying to figure out what the hell I had done and then rewriting it cleanly in Java was pretty difficult and I haven't even converted the whole site but rather only the most trafficked read-only pages. The review and submission forms are still implemented as perl scripts as are the account update, login, and registration pages.
It was mainly because I could no longer understand what I had written that I couldn't add any new features to the site. Kind of weird that it was only a few years ago and even though I wrote it, I had to spend about two months deciphering everything it did.
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2007-01-23 16:27:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
More to the point if the only reason you write is to get praise and have your ego stroked then do us all a favour and go pay a hooker to do it for you. Alternatively, you could learn to grow up.
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 16:13:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
"This is a tough thing to program though... the problem is that if the site becomes personalized to show you exactly what you want to see, then that also means that you won't see the things you don't want to see."
Bart, take my previous advice on this- when posts are sufficiently categorized (and this can include old posts- give users a minuscule bump to their overall user score if they decide to offer the courtesy of classifying old posts they happen to be reading), you can add a third bar underneath the existing two bars at the top of the screen, offering a half-random, half-preferences post link for each of the main categories. Something like...
A_B_C_D_E_F_G
t_u_v_w_x_y_z
... wherein the uppercase letters represent very short category titles- one or two words long- and the lowercase letters stand for _just the post numbers_ - not the article titles (because there's not a lot of horizontal room up there).
It increases the mystery of the random postness by just using the numbers, and if someone REALLY wants to ruin the surprise, they can just hover over the link until the info dialogue pops up. It's probably best to leave out posts the user has already commented on when providing these random articles, so the user always gets fresh content.
By the way, I did notice the site got a lot faster. Good work on the seamless transition from one middleware to another, bro... I know those can be a bitch. If you're interested in some free programming assistance with this next round of updates, I'm happy to provide assistance. I'll even sign an NDA and release on the code that I write for you if it makes you feel better. Ubersite has been an awesome place to chill, read and write for the last couple of years in my life... it's the least I could do.
I have over six years of paid industry experience in IT, more than half of which has been in Internet application programming- and extensive experience in Perl and other middlewares, as well as decent familiarity in Java (I took a year of Java in college). No strings, just happy to help.
My most recent creation is Las Ultimas Noticias - http://las-ultimas-noticias.com/ - which provides aggregated news results to 28 countries on 18 topics in English, Spanish and Portuguese. I own the sole intellectual rights to the project. It took roughly 3 weeks (around 100 hours) to create. I figure that'll suffice as an audition, but if you'd like to see a code sample from some work I've done (to give you an idea of how I code), I'll gladly oblige.
If you want my assistance, drop me a line. I think I gave you my e-mail address at GMail when we talked on AIM the other day.
Submitted by kaioken (user info) at 2007-01-23 16:00:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-01-23 15:46:15 (#)
Ranking: 0
From a quality of writing standpoint, what is there to think about? How many people are going to waste an hour or more of my time writing something that's quality when 'har har emu' and the latest rape bandwagon are going to get the same ratings and more hits?
---------------------------------------------------------------
I couldn't agree more.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-01-23 15:46:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 14:02:21 (#)
Ranking: 0
Besides, 'Har Har rabbit', 'superfriends' and random bandwagons (and the more vile and putrid shit the children dig up and share) can be annoying - but it DOES keep shit interesting around here and is easy enough to avoid when you think about it.
------------
From a quality of writing standpoint, what is there to think about? How many people are going to waste an hour or more of my time writing something that's quality when 'har har emu' and the latest rape bandwagon are going to get the same ratings and more hits?
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-01-23 15:39:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Long AND boring...you hit the quinella, Chief.
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 15:25:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Damn, that's a long comment.
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 14:51:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
"Listen. You don't need a Hall of Fame. You don't need moderators. You don't need emus riding pogo sticks or giant robots that transform into slightly more giant robots. With some small modifications, the existing reviews can be used to deliver the content EACH USER wants the most, INDIVIDUALLY.
I laid out all of it quite plainly here. Stop positing grandiose solutions when the simplest version of the upgrade you seek doesn't exist yet."
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. This is one the three general features that I am going to start working next.
For those that didn't notice, I completely rewrote Ubersite in Java and launched the new version last week. If I did a good job, you shouldn't have noticed anything as I tried to make the new version look exactly like the old version. The difference is that it is a lot faster and written with a crazy better technical design that the old version so that I now have the ability to add new features and not completely crash the server.
The three new features I am planning on adding are:
1) More personal information on the user info page. I'm not turning this into MySpace, but it would be nice to allow people to upload pictures of themselves and publicize basic info like real name, location, etc. if they so desired. This would mean that people don't need to make a new post just to put up a camwhore shot of themselves, although that would still be possible.
2) Ability to create individual lists of things like "My Favorite Messages", "My Favorite Comments", "People I'm Embarrassed To Like", and so on. These would be totally editorial and up to the individual and then presumably there would be some way of viewing these in aggregate.
3) Ability to dynamically pull lists of messages based on other criteria such as "Messages by People that I Consistently Rate Highly", "Messages by People that Have Similar Tastes to Me", and other super complicated fun things. The idea is that people's ratings can act in an autoforming group... if BigMike and I always rate things similarly and he's given a Har Har Rabbit post a -2, then I don't even have to see it because it doesn't show up on the front page. However, if someone else has consistently rated Har Har Rabbit posts with +2s, then they will see that and the long well written fiction story will disappear. The root problem is that there is no absolute definition of "good writing", so different groups of people will naturally want to see different things. Given that there are over 2,000,000 ratings and 100,000 posts in the system right now, it should be possible to use that information to algorithmically do some crazy shit.
"Besides, 'Har Har rabbit' , 'superfriends' and random bandwagons (and the more vile and putrid shit the children dig up and share) can be annoying - but it DOES keep shit interesting around here and is easy enough to avoid when you think about it."
I agree with this comment as well. I think all of these posts are bad, but they are still funny sometimes and it's not like I wasted hours of my life when I click on one of them unexpectedly. This is a tough thing to program though... the problem is that if the site becomes personalized to show you exactly what you want to see, then that also means that you won't see the things you don't want to see. However, what if you don't know what you want to see or if there's something you've never seen that you would like but you don't realize it? Plus, the element of surprise is in and of itself interesting at times, so if the system recommends only good things, it may actually get kind of dull. I'll have to figure out a way to work with this.
The general problem I have with these things is that Ubersite has never changed. There have been some minor tweaks over time, but generally this is the same exact feature set that existed seven years ago. People know what to expect from the site itself and the users keep it dynamic and interesting. I'm hesitant to change it drastically like so that it no longer looks the same or has the same features, but at the same time, I have to recognize that it isn't quite working as well as it could.
If anyone thinks they have good ideas that are realistically possible, feel free to email them to me and make sure to use a subject like "Feature suggestion for Ubersite" so that I don't accidentally flag it as spam.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-01-23 14:22:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I know what you mean.
All of my great stories like THIS one for example - http://www.ubersite.com/m/96209 - get overlooked by cheesy Jack McCallum novelettes, and Method camwhore posts.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 14:06:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-01-23 13:57:40 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by jet_stream_nz (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:26:27 (#)
Ranking: 0
If you want to have the ability to "change" things, create your own fucking website.
I can't believe someone like you is campaigning for change when you spend every fucking waking moment on this website.
--------
hahahahaha, that's awesome.
---
You get delighted over the most ironic things, troll.
I love it.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 14:02:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-01-23 13:40:48 (#)
Ranking: 0
Good stories aren't getting 'lost'. They're just not getting written much anymore. Why waste your time trying to write something worth reading when it's just going to get overshadowed by har har rabbit or the superfriends? Bart did a great job developing this site. I really give him credit for writing some great code and implementing a lot of really unique features without any expectation of compensation. His coding isn't the problem; it's the people who come on here acting like a bunch of lobotomized high schoolers. Since it would be a real challenge to create code advanced enough to detect whether a poster's being an idiot, I imagine bart's only alternative would be to start screening users. Which is his right really, as this is his website.
---
Well sure, but as mentioned I LIKE the idiocy - and obviously a lot of folks do as well.
It looks as though Bart is going to re-organize things a little bit - but this site is truly what YOU make of it - and with a little organization and a little 'writer nerd community spirit' most of what I suggest can be done under the existing frame work that we all know and love as 'uber'. I would like to see some organization of that massive pile of fiction that has been squeezed out into this site.
Besides, 'Har Har rabbit' , 'superfriends' and random bandwagons (and the more vile and putrid shit the children dig up and share) can be annoying - but it DOES keep shit interesting around here and is easy enough to avoid when you think about it.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-01-23 13:57:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by jet_stream_nz (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:26:27 (#)
Ranking: 0
If you want to have the ability to "change" things, create your own fucking website.
I can't believe someone like you is campaigning for change when you spend every fucking waking moment on this website.
--------
hahahahaha, that's awesome.
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 13:50:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
OKAY, that's enough of that. I'm going to write some next-generation forum code. I'm putting it on The List... and all of YOU on Notice.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-01-23 13:40:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Good stories aren't getting 'lost'. They're just not getting written much anymore. Why waste your time trying to write something worth reading when it's just going to get overshadowed by har har rabbit or the superfriends? Bart did a great job developing this site. I really give him credit for writing some great code and implementing a lot of really unique features without any expectation of compensation. His coding isn't the problem; it's the people who come on here acting like a bunch of lobotomized high schoolers. Since it would be a real challenge to create code advanced enough to detect whether a poster's being an idiot, I imagine bart's only alternative would be to start screening users. Which is his right really, as this is his website.
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2007-01-23 13:12:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2007-01-23 12:59:12 (#)
Ranking: 0
Or when you do, then he feels like he's running a public urinal."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Why do you encourage him? You know that he only ever comes here in-between downloading child porn and raping his mother's corpse.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2007-01-23 12:59:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:31:25 (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:24:25 (#)
Ranking: 2
I wonder if Bart Bart ever feels like he's running a huge virtual daycare center.
Probably.
Except when you post, then he feels like he's running MySpace/Blog/Boring.com
=====================
Or when you do, then he feels like he's running a public urinal.
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2007-01-23 12:48:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Thank God somebody else was thinking the same thing.
Submitted by homer42 (user info) at 2007-01-23 12:36:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm with you 100% on that one. If something could just track all original fiction with a rating of .5 or higher I think that would be sufficient. I say .5 because alot of shit that's good gets unfairly ranked down due to gay little grudges and politics and shit like that.
"BUT it made me realize that ALL the original fiction - at least the shit worth reading at least - should be properly organized on 1 coherent page and updated regularly so lazy assholes (like me) will know how to find it."
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:46:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
OR "Pattycake" Peter Llewellen
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:45:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Kaos, if you decide to try poetry and create an alter PLEASE name him Georges-Herbert Periwinkle III.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:36:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I can only see one reason for alters...
Take Stephen King and his "alter" Richard Bachman. The Bachman stuff didn't exactly have the same vibe as his King stuff. Hell, I could see him coming up with a THIRD name just to do the Darktower Books.
Look at it this way - I write mostly horror & Dark Fantasy. Say I wanted to write something out of my normal genre, I would consider creating an alter to have it named under. Poetry? Definitely use an alter. If anything, it would simply be to differentiate between my work. Hell, sometimes I wanna post meaningless crap, but I don't: just beacuse that wouldn't be Kaos-King-like.
Oh wait, all my stuff is crap...
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:32:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Cadrach (user info) at 2007-01-23 09:34:23 (#)
Ranking: 0
stfu noob.
----------
Not really. I couldn't think of anything "funny" to say.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:31:25 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:24:25 (#)
Ranking: 2
I wonder if Bart Bart ever feels like he's running a huge virtual daycare center.
Probably.
Except when you post, then he feels like he's running MySpace/Blog/Boring.com
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:26:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:24:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I wonder if Bart Bart ever feels like he's running a huge virtual daycare center.
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2007-01-23 10:12:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
This is why I'm happy I've been labeling all the posts from past competitions, as there are usually some gems that would otherwise be ignored or lost in the shuffle.
A goodly idea. We'll see when the future holds.
In the meantime, make like a Razor and cut..............through the bullshit and start taking back Ubersite.
Submitted by Cadrach (user info) at 2007-01-23 09:34:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
stfu noob.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-01-23 08:55:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2007-01-23 08:23:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Ubersite ain't broke....
...because God doesn't make junk.
Don't mind me, I'm half-asleep.
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 07:20:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Listen. You don't need a Hall of Fame. You don't need moderators. You don't need emus riding pogo sticks or giant robots that transform into slightly more giant robots. With some small modifications, the existing reviews can be used to deliver the content EACH USER wants the most, INDIVIDUALLY.
I laid out all of it quite plainly here. Stop positing grandiose solutions when the simplest version of the upgrade you seek doesn't exist yet.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2007-01-23 07:14:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2007-01-23 07:13:00 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 03:36:17 (#)
Ranking: 0
Your idea is absurd. Do you see any contradiction in these two statements:
"The "Best Ever" list, as we all know, is based on the ratings system and means very little."
and
"What we need is some kind of voting system where every user has a say, and enough initial votes earns a post a place in the Uber Hall of Fame, where it will be categorized and placed alongside other worthy posts of similar genres from the uber catalogue where it will remain indefinitely, thereby setting it apart from the sea of common fodder."
???
This whole "people rating things good or bad" idea means very little, so what we need is a system where people can *vote* things as good or bad. When people "rate", all the petty bullshit comes into play, however when they "vote", it will be true and accurate because nobody would dare bring pettiness into it if it were called "voting".
Also, I'd like to point out that you can define your own criteria for "Best Ever" and then search based on that. For example, to see the highest rated posts with at least 200 reviews:
http://www.ubersite.com/?xyz=Advanced&num_reviews=200&sort=BEST
-----------------
There's no reason to start being a sarcastic asshole, Bart. Listen to what I'm saying....
I know you can do define criteria, but the criteria is SHIT; but it's absolute shit.
I don't give a damn about the posts that had X number of reviews! That's not gonna tell you a damned thing. I'm talking about creating a Hall of Fame for posts based solely on a nomination system. X number of nominations from X number of users means your post is in.
What's 'X' number? Who knows. Something appropriate. I'm not splitting hairs, I'm giving general directives. But what you don't seem to get is that the 'best ever' is complete bullshit. Some people - i.e. ME - are generally hated and therefore get assholes like homer42, jgreening, wardy, indoninja, blah blah blah -2ing nearly everything he posts.
I've written 351 fucking posts here, Bart, and not a single one of them still has a +2 rating. Not one.
I'm just using myself as an example because it's an easy one to make. No need to sit there and pander to me like I was born yesterday, or worse, am a fucking noob.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 05:01:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by jet_stream_nz (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:26:27 (#)
Ranking: 0
If you want to have the ability to "change" things, create your own fucking website.
---
I've thought about doing that.
Many times. Problem is, I don't have the time, cash or the energy to create and maintain a website.
Not yet. I have a few really good ideas for some - however.
Besides, as I have mentioned many times - I fucking dig THIS site - which is why I am merely suggesting some 'changes' - if nothing changed I would still be tickled pink with this mo fo.
...dig?
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:53:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rorrim (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:40:32 (#)
Ranking: 2
sorry , forgot the +2 , amigo...
---
Thanks, eh.
+2s make my heart flutter.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:50:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by jet_stream_nz (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:26:27 (#)
Ranking: 0
If you want to have the ability to "change" things, create your own fucking website.
I can't believe someone like you is campaigning for change when you spend every fucking waking moment on this website.
---
hehe... that was a pretty quick turn around.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:47:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:28:49 (#)
Ranking: 0
Your use of the word 'Perk' makes me think you have a shitty alter?
---
Negative. Alters are silly.
I was going for zest. Flair. Zip.
Actually I was going for 'perk' - which is why I used it, but those would also work.
I don't understand your ilk's obsession with alters. Perhaps that, if nothing else, is a sure symptom of an uber-illness - these alter 'outings'.
Submitted by rorrim (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:40:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
sorry , forgot the +2 , amigo...
Submitted by rorrim (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:39:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by hot_pocket (user info) at 2007-01-23 02:50:18 (#)
Ranking: 0
im broke
Yep . Personal , mental and Spiritual . not just financial . welcome to uber !
Hi rob , i c u're changing reality again ?
Have a good day , i'm a little busy , so not often on uber , currently .
I'll keep an eye on the ball , though ...
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:37:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
It's Not That Hard.
"I'd be interested to know but I believe self-moderation would be achievable if people we aware that they were over-stepping some boundaries with their actions."
A little tweaking of the rating system could go a long way. Countless reviews are already in the system. If the system knew what to do with that information, everyone could receive more of what they like the most about Ubersite and less of what they don't. It doesn't require a board of moderators, all it requires is a few hours of programming.
Submitted by jet_stream_nz (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:35:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
What this site requires is some simple guidelines. It is not ok to allow people to post anything they want then turn around and ban them for being inappropriate. In the beginning, I'm sure Uber was quite a tight-knit community but with change comes the need for people to be more shocking and outlandish in order to obtain some attention.
I know that have set guidelines or 'rules' with regard to what can and can't be posted requires moderation and I'm sure the site owner doesn't want to have to spend time doing this. However, there are enough dirty snitches around here who are more than willing to let him know when someone oversteps the invisible boundaries.
There is no consistancy with the control. One person will get booted for doing something and another user will take that one step further an receive no punishment at all.
This site is about entertainment, manipulation, emotion, creative-writing, debate, unity and discovery and everyone has a different method of trying to achieve these objectives.
I don't know what people think about this. I'd be interested to know but I believe self-moderation would be achievable if people we aware that they were over-stepping some boundaries with their actions.
My 2 cents.
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:28:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Your use of the word 'Perk' makes me think you have a shitty alter?
Submitted by jet_stream_nz (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:26:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
If you want to have the ability to "change" things, create your own fucking website.
I can't believe someone like you is campaigning for change when you spend every fucking waking moment on this website.
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:10:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 02:31:21 (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting idea, but I've always shied away from anybody having editorial control over the site or any portions of it.
I'm not entirely against the idea in spirit, but I think it would work better if it were a little more decentralized.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The concept is simple. First off, have stories appropriately categorized: you'll need more specific categories (perhaps subcategories of larger categories), and authors will need to be specific when choosing the category the post goes into. If users choose, they can click a button to respecify an article into a different category they feel is more appropriate, and for the purposes of that particular user, the system considers that post to belong to that category. If an overwhelming majority of users meeting a prespecified quorum (taken by ratio of arbitrary value X percent of total users, or X percent of the average number of users to comment on a post by that particular author), the post is officially recategorized system-wide (and perhaps the post gets bumped down a small amount of score for improper initial categorization, the amount of which would be determined by the scale of disparity between the specified category and the democratically re-specified category).
Once stories are appropriately categorized, by doing a little math with the scores users are already providing for posts (since it's all in the system _anyways_, this shouldn't be hard to implement), you can algorithmically determine which content the users are most likely to enjoy in each of the main parent categories. Then, with a dash of random seed thrown in, you can generate a secondary "Uber-Bar" containing a randomly chosen story of high popularity within each parent category based on what posts and authors the user has already seemed to enjoy.
Shit, if YOU don't do it, expect ME to in the next couple of months.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 04:04:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Communication on this site is indeed fractillian. Compartmentalized little boxes of randomly expressed thought. -2 Degenerate. Ignorant. Educated.
Finding things would be a good thing. But truly, I don't think this site is anything less than perfectly delightful.
I truly enjoy this little creation of yours.
OH, I think a little more control over personal features might be good...
[In your free FREE time. heh.]
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2007-01-23 03:14:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Bart, answer my last post.
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 03:10:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I am on the verge of having a lot of free time to work on new things, so I am going to be adding features to the site. If you read the About Us page that has been up since the very beginning:
http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/about.cgi
it says:
"...the impractical, confusing, painfully irrational ability of the human population as a whole. Ubersite takes the fractillian responses of every individual, performs some Uberprocessing on them, wraps them all up in a neat little package, and presents you the viewer with exactly what you want to see. How do we know what you want to see? We know. But how do we know? We just do."
With a lot of adjectives, some of which I made up, this describes something that I kind of got away from as time went on. In the near future, I am going to make some efforts to make it easier to find the things that you want to read and easier to skip the things you want to skip.
If it works, it will be very cool and will finally allow the site to start growing again.
Submitted by hot_pocket (user info) at 2007-01-23 02:50:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
im broke
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 02:47:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
hmmm...
Or you could give it up to a couple people? That would de-centralize the 'power'... but then you could get some silly 'committee' feuds.
I imagine there are some folks who have been here a long time who might look to that kind of thing as fun.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-23 02:40:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 02:31:21 (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting idea, but I've always shied away from anybody having editorial control over the site or any portions of it.
I'm not entirely against the idea in spirit, but I think it would work better if it were a little more decentralized.
---
I hears ya.
But I don't actually think you would be giving anyone any 'real' editorial control - beyond giving them the control to choose what links they would post. So that would be a rather biased opinion as to what actually made the cut as 'readable fiction'. Besides, even if something didn't make the cut - anyone who wanted to get some extra eyeballs on their work could plead their case in the comment section.
It would be pretty much the way uber runs now - only it would be organized in a more centralized, easily accessed location.
(I'm glad you stopped in. I feel all giddy.)
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2007-01-23 02:31:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting idea, but I've always shied away from anybody having editorial control over the site or any portions of it.
I'm not entirely against the idea in spirit, but I think it would work better if it were a little more decentralized.
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2007-01-23 02:26:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
you're it